Lock and Key
by Fantasia Lottare
Summary: Alfred F. Jones is an aspiring detective who wants to find out the cause of his brother's sudden disappearance four years ago. It leads him to Arthur Kirkland, who appeared to have locked himself in an abandoned warehouse for five years, and woke up with no memory of who he was. As the criminal and cruel events of Arthur's past are discovered, Alfred unveils a secret...USUK


**Hello! This is my first try at a mystery story, and my second story overall! It contains USUK[Alfred F. Jones x Arthur Kirkland].  
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**The rating may go up later.**

**Just a warning, parts of this story may be dark.  
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**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA:AXIS POWERS**

**Please read and review!**

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_4 years ago..._

_No, no, no. _The words repeated over and over in Arthur's mind as he ran down the street, drenched, with the rain relentlessly pouring down on him. He paused to catch his breath, and turned around only to be met by a kick to his already-bruised stomach. He grunted with pain, toppling over until he lay defenseless on the ground. He received blow after blow from his attackers, wincing and crying out in pain. But no matter what, he had resolved all those years ago that he wouldn't call for help.

Because he deserved all of this, right?

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**PROLOGUE: MEET THE HERO**

Alfred F. Jones, aspiring detective, walking around outside the police station for what seemed like the fiftieth time. "Come on, you can do this! Do this for Matthew!" he reminded himself again, and with determination he opened the door and walked inside. It was less intimidating than he expected inside - at least less intimidating than the inside of other police stations that he went into before. To his dismay, he had been rejected by all of them, and with the same excuse, too. They always claimed that he was "too young" to be a detective, and that he should go back to college and study law and crime if he really wanted to be one. If Alfred had _really _wanted to continue his studies, he would have. He was bright, and would have been an engineer or pilot or astronaut or _something _if not for _that_.

Matthew's disappearance. He was close to his brother, at least until his unexpected disappearance when Alfred was fifteen. Alfred had waited an entire year, but he began to grow restless. The police hadn't found his brother, and his parents were wrought with distress and grief. It was at that moment that Alfred decided that he was going to be a detective, but when he brought it up with his parents they had harshly rejected him. Alfred winced, thinking back to the large argument he had with his parents. Harsh insults were thrown, and he knew what he said back then truly hurt his parents; but then again, they said some _really _mean things to him, too! Being the stubborn teenager he was, on a whim he packed up all of his things, and, ignoring the protests of his parents, stormed out of the house.

Come to think of it, he really never communicated with his parents much after that, except for a few select times. They sent him a text shortly after he ran away saying that they would deposit money every month in his bank account to pay for food and living expenses, but other than that he was on his own. He lived in an apartment, alone, and after a month or so his parents sent him texts begging him to come back, and called him a lot. However, Alfred refused. His mind was set on what he had to do, and he wouldn't let anyone get in the way of that. Eventually, at the time of his graduation, Alfred gave in out of longing and guilt, and visited his parents again, who were more than glad to see him. Though the conversation began as sweet, it slowly became sour as they got into yet another argument about Alfred's future, and Alfred ended up storming out of the house again. That was the last time to date Alfred saw or talked to his parents.

Upon graduating high school, he ended up going to college - he figured it was what Matthew would have wanted. Not that Alfred believed he was dead, because that was ridiculous. What irritated him was that everyone else seemed to believe he was. Nevertheless, with Matthew's disappearance eating him from inside, Alfred decided to follow what he thought was right, and dropped out. Now, he was trying to become a detective so that he could re-open Matthew's case and search for his brother himself. Of course, mystery was exciting for Alfred - he didn't mind having to do a couple of cases before he was good enough to re-open Matthew's case.

"Hello?" Alfred spun around, lost in his memories, when he was greeted by a police officer. "May I help you?"

"Oh, hi!" Alfred began, breaking out in a smile. "Hey, I was wondering...um, does you police station accept...um..."

"Accept...?" The man frowned. "You'll have to be more clear."

"Um...I want to be a detective..." he mumbled, inwardly slapping himself for appearing so hesitant and weak. Trying again, he repeated more confidently, "I want to be a detective!"

The man gave him a questioning look, then examined Alfred closely. "How old are you?"

"Um...t-twenty-three-" He was interrupted by the policeman shaking his head.

"Don't lie to me. How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"Aren't you a bit young? How about college? Where are your parents?"

Alfred could have shouted in exasperation. "Please!" he begged, walking over to the policeman. "Please, you have to let me do this, I won't ever disturb you ever again if you just let me investigate one case-"

The policeman silenced him, then frowned. "One case?"

"See, my brother Matthew went missing a couple years ago, and they never resolved his case, and everyone thinks he's dead but I _know _he's still out there somewhere, I need to find him-"

"A couple of _years _ago? I hate to break it to you, son, but there's nothing you can do about a case that closed a couple of years ago...Also, I understand your desperation, but we don't usually give teenagers control of cases-"

"No, you don't understand, officer, I'm not dumb at all, really, I can be a hero and I did really well in school and college too-"

"Shouldn't you _be _in college right now?"

"Yeah, I know, but I dropped out just for this! Please, give me a chance!"

"Sorry, son. No can do." The policeman gave him a compassionate look, but Alfred shook his head violently.

"No! Dude-" The officer frowned at being called 'dude', "look, if you were really close to your brother for fifteen years and then suddenly lost him and had no idea where he was or if he was even alive, wouldn't you want _answers_!? You have no right to say no!" Alfred shouted angrily, his eyebrows furrowing. "Please..." His voice softened. "Give me a chance!"

The policeman paused. "How old were you? 19?"

"Yeah."

"Wait here."

With that, the officer left, and came back after a couple of minutes with two more officers, one with a lot of badges on his chest.

"So, you want to be a detective?" the man with the badges asked. Alfred nodded eagerly. "For your brother?"

"Yeah!"

The man paused, looking Alfred up and down. "You have a good, strong build. You play sports?"

"Uh, I did in high school - why?"

"You'll need it. What if an armed man attacks you? How will you defend yourself?"

"Fight him back!" Alfred replied confidently.

The three men laughed. "Well, you've got good spirit. Why not?"

Alfred gleamed with joy. "So, then..."

"Sure. You'll have to tell your parents, and we'll have teach you about what being a detective is, along with techniques and rules, but..."

"Oh, um...my parents aren't, um..."

The man with the badges immediately stopped talking. "Your...parents, they're...? Oh, I'm so sorry-"

"No, they're not dead, but um...I promised them that I'd come back to them with Matthew, and only with Matthew."

"But son, if your brother is dead-" the first officer began, but was interrupted with a glare from Alfred.

"He's not. He's just missing, and me, being the hero, is here to find him!" he said fiercely.

"Alfred..." the man with the badges began slowly, "If it does turn out that your brother is deceased, what will you do?"

Alfred froze. He hadn't really...well, he had, but he hadn't really thought about that. Then, wouldn't this whole thing be for naught? "No..." he said aloud. "If he is dead, I'll found out who killed him and go after them myself." He said it with surprising menace. "I'll kill whoever messed with Matthew, at all costs." His face darkened, and his eyes lost their usual glimmer.

The policemen frowned, until one said, "So after you solve Matthew's case, if you can...what will you do?"

"Hm?" Alfred paused. What would the policemen _want _him to say? Being a detective was actually pretty cool. Maybe he should just stick with it for now. "Well, I'd still want to continue being a detective!"

"Are you sure? Wouldn't you want to go back to college now that your goal is over?"

"But there are tons of other people who are going through the same stuff as me, right? And they can't do anything about it. I want to help them!" he said, his blue eyes sincere as he stared straight into the eyes of the police officers.

"...Very well, son. Come to our office at 7 AM tomorrow, and we'll show you around the place. Your "orientation" of some sort will start at 10."

Alfred joyfully nodded. "Gotcha! Thanks, dudes!" He skipped to the door and walked out, breathing in the fresh air. "I finally did it, Matt! I'll be seeing you in no time!" he laughed, looking up at the sky. It seemed so clear now compared to a moment ago, when Alfred was lost and confused. But now, he finally did it. He was going to be a detective, and he was going to find Matthew.

Matthew - his quite, barely noticeable brother, and yet to Alfred he was the best brother and friend anyone could ask for, though the two were polar opposites. Alfred couldn't even comprehend what had happened when Matthew first went missing - but he did run outside blindly, desperately shouting his brother's name into the night sky. Alfred was devastated - he didn't eat for days, sullenly walking around as if life itself had no point.

But now, that didn't matter. Because now, he would find Matthew and give him a big slap for making Alfred suffer like this.

_He can't be dead, right? Matthew..._

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**Ahh, Alfred really got lucky, huh? The probability that he would actually be accepted in real life is zero xD Nevertheless, a story is a story. And now, with the intro over...onwards we go! Please remember to review!  
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